Jimmie Rodgers
On the Way Up 1929
Play On the Way Up 1929
-
AMG Review of On the Way Up 1929
Ron Wynn
All Music GuideThis third Jimmie Rodgers disc in the eight-CD line covers arguably his greatest year, 1929. Rodgers scored huge hits doing popular novelty cuts like "Frankie and Johnny" and railroad numbers like "Train Whistle Blues," and continued cutting yodeling tunes, as well as cowboy songs and bawdy blues. The 17 cuts include the marvelous "Everybody Does It in Hawaii," with Weldon Burkes on ukulele and Joe Kapo on steel, and the memorable "Hobo Bill's Last Ride." The session also contains alternate takes of "The Land of My Boyhood Dreams" and "Frankie and Johnny." Rodgers was able to deftly mix identities and personas, alternating between yodeling blues singer, railroad narrator, and carefree cowboy.
 "On the Way Up 1929")
